BOOK IV

6. CHAPTER VI

It is evident from what has been said, that there are as many
different sorts of democracies and oligarchies as I have reckoned up:
for, of necessity, either all ranks of the people which I have
enumerated must have a share in the government, or some only, and
others not; for when the husbandmen, and those only who possess
moderate fortunes, have the supreme power, they will govern according
to law; for as they must get their livings by their employs, they have
but little leisure for public business: they will therefore establish
proper laws, and never call public assemblies but when there is a
necessity for them; and they will readily let every one partake with
them in the administration of public affairs as soon as they possess
that fortune which the law requires for their qualification: every
one, therefore, who is qualified will have his share in the
government: for to exclude any would be to make the government an
oligarchy, and for all to have leisure to attend without they had a
subsistence would be impossible: for these reasons, therefore, this
government is a species of democracy. Another species is distinguished
by the mode of electing their magistrates, in which every one is
eligible, to whose birth there are no objections, provided he is
supposed to have leisure to attend: for which reason in such a
democracy the supreme power will be vested in the laws, as there will
be nothing paid to those who go to the public assemblies. A third
species is where every freeman has a right to a share in the
government, which he will not accept for the cause already assigned;
for which reason here also the supreme power will be in the law. The
fourth species [1293a] of democracy, the last which was established in
order of time, arose when cities were greatly enlarged to what they
were at first, and when the public revenue became something
considerable; for then the populace, on account of their numbers, were
admitted to share in the management of public affairs, for then even
the poorest people were at leisure to attend to them, as they received
wages for so doing; nay, they were more so than others, as they were
not hindered by having anything of their own to mind, as the rich had;
for which reason these last very often did not frequent the public
assemblies and the courts of justice: thus the supreme power was
lodged in the poor, and not in the laws. These are the different sorts
of democracies, and such are the causes which necessarily gave birth
to them.